4 / 5 Stars | 34 Reviews
by Noni
“You boil lentils, then blend them until smooth to make this pungent puree; curry-scented spices–like cumin, garlic and cayenne–finish the dish.”
4 / 5 Stars | 34 Reviews
by Noni
“You boil lentils, then blend them until smooth to make this pungent puree; curry-scented spices–like cumin, garlic and cayenne–finish the dish.”
No matter how many times I clean it out and organize it, my fridge is always a mess. I have a tendency to shove things to the back of the fridge, where I forget about them for weeks, until it’s time to clean things out again.
And don’t get me started on how many random condiments are stashed in the door — it’s borderline embarrassing. If I owned my apartment, one solution I’d be considering is replacing the refrigerator with one that has a glass door. If the mess is on display, I’m much more likely to keep it tidy.
As I shuffle towards the finish line of this family-expansion project we began so long ago that it’s become a running joke* there are days when I honestly do not understand why human beings need to gestate beyond 37 weeks. I mean, pretty much the minute the doctor estimated this kid to be 6 pounds, I concluded “it’s cooked! It can come out now, right?” and imagined our 4th of July, baby snuggled in wrap, beer in one hand, medium-rare burger in the other and, lo, it sounded pretty grand to me. Because, of course, we know from experience that’s exactly what the first weeks of having a newborn look like. Fortunately, there are other days when I wake up and feel almost like a person who does not have feet in her rib cage, when by some miracle, I’m able to swim a mile, find some forgotten dress in my closet that actually fits with dignity, and cook things we can pass off as dinners, present and future, and this is one of those days so let’s frolic in it.
In a few days, my son starts a day camp in which the kids are supposed to bring their own lunches — no, not even summer brings a reprieve from my favorite activity — and snacks. Snacks! Predictably, this has stressed me out because I neither want him to feel unloved for being the only kid without a package of some sort of candy/gummy/cookie monstrosity or some other unwholesome delight nor do I want him to develop a package-of-monstrosity-a-day habit. Ideally, I’d rather him eat something homemade where the ingredient list didn’t sound like a science project. Realistically, my best-laid plans will probably only take us through the first couple weeks, after which we’ll be too busy not to succumb to all the wonders of the packaged food world, but until then, I plan to give myself an A for effort. This is also a nut-free facility, a couple of his friends are gluten-free, another cannot have dairy, and all of these factors have collided to finally motivate me to update my go-to granola bars accordingly.
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I think most of us know (and love) Heidi Swanson’s website, 101 Cookbooks. It has certainly been one of my favorite food reads for many years, and I am always inspired by the way Heidi brings vegetables to the fore, often in unexpected ways. So when we were hunting for some fresh ways to feature zucchini and squash this week, Heidi’s books were one of the first places I looked.
This soup is one of the rare soups that sounds appealing in the summertime — a spicy, tangy blend of Thai red curry paste, coconut milk, tofu, and squash. It’ll make you sweat — in a good way.
Food-packaging technology is part of what ensures the food we buy stays intact during the shipping, shelving, and shopping that needs to happen before we bring it home from the store. For the most part, packaging is fairly effective — even ingenious. However, there are some foods that are packaged in ways that make me shake my fist in frustration: “Why, oh why, do they make it so hard?”
Come on, I know you feel me here. Here are the 10 food-packaging quirks that drive us up the wall and make us ask, “Isn’t there a better way to design this?”
4.39 / 5 Stars | 34 Reviews
by ALONGENECKER
“Shrimp and pork – layered with rice noodles, bean sprouts, and herbs – all rolled together in a fresh rice wrapper and served with a hoisin-peanut sauce for dipping. Great for an appetizer or lunch!”
It takes a combination of experience, skill, and patience when smoking meats to juicy perfection, and it used to be that there was only a small window of time to serve the meat when it’s at its best.